I can hardly believe it but Nomi has turned 10.  It seems such a little while ago that she was born, or even more so we remember so clearly the times when she was sick and we travelled back and forwards to hospital.  That was 9 ½ years ago.  How amazing is that!

She has been so very excited about her birthday.  We have a very set pattern for birthdays in our house.  We always seem to be running late with wrapping presents and making card so if the birthday person doesn’t sleep in (which Nomi did do!) then they are shut out of the family room while all this creative activity gets completed.

It is then breakfast time.  The birthday person chooses the breakfast menu.  Nomi chose croissants.   We then move to the lounge room and give our presents – one present at a time.   Usually we take a photo of the giver and the receiver but this little tradition has become more about the photos than the saying thank you, so this birthday we had our “hug” photos taken, one by one, and then did the presents.  That way the hug and thankyous for the present were a lot more genuine!

Then…. Birthday person is excused from chores.  Nomi chose to start writing thank you notes for the people she was expecting at her party.  Later in the day she started to write in a notebook/journal Jessie gave her a list of all her presents.  She also clipped the wrapping paper and has stuck that into her journal.

Nomi’s first visitors turned up at 9.00am.  We hadn’t seen MM and family for a while so that was very exciting – everyone had lots to say.  A year or two back MM gave the kids some hair paint and they have never used it.  Nomi decided turning 10 deserved a new hair colour.  So MM painted it blue and pink.  Ironically, it suited her.  Not that I would recommend that she gets the colour made permanent but we were looking for a bit of shock factor and her outgoing personality just carried the hair off and it was just hair!  (I am sure I won’t be saying that if she turns up with punk hair style at 16!!)

Jessica baked the birthday cake – one vanilla and one chocolate.  I helped her with the icing but only because we were running short of time.  Nomi wasn’t having a birthday party – though she had invited her friends over for a play date.  The difference between a party and a play date is the stress it creates for mother!  A play date – not a worry if the food isn’t ready, and the cake isn’t iced.  A party though – THAT has to be organised!  So we all had a great play date.  The mums had a visit and the kids kept themselves occupied.  After the cake etc the kids put out some black plastic on the lawn, turned on the hose and had a slide happening.  They had a ball.

A birthday person always gets lots of phonecalls.  It was nice to hear from my dad that Nomi turned the conversation away from herself and asked him about his day.  This is a big thing for a kid to do on their birthday!  I am very proud of her.

Back to Traditions…. The birthday person also chooses the dinner menu.  Nomi chose Nachos followed by Strawberry Shortcake.  Dinner was to be eaten in front of a movie – Garfield 2, which was a big hit.

So ends a great day for Nomi and her family.